Arun Kumar (PGP05.

113)
IIM Rohtak

Open Source ERP:

Odoo/OpenERP
Abstract
In a company where handful of employees perform various functions like sales,
marketing, operations, finance and Human resource etc. and various tasks with
in each functions. It becomes very complicated when a company grows in size
because of too much information overload. Due to lack of coordination and
inefficiency of employees the company has to bear huge loss in terms of revenue
and resources. Thus it is important to have enterprise resource systems to
overcome the these issues. There are already big guns of ERP in the market like
SAP and Oracle which has huge share and there are some open source ERP
which are negligible in market but still used by many companies. Mostly small
companies use open source ERP as per their needs. This paper will discuss about
open source ERP Odoo(Formerly OpenERP) and its functionality, modules
and use in the current market.

Introduction
With the advent of technology there is huge increase in the competition among
the companies. The company which is lacking in the technology meet its end
early. Thus it becomes very important for companies to have cutting edge
technology to beat their competitors. With the growing business it is important
that keep in mind that there is efficient use of resources and timely delivery of
products and services to make your customer satisfied. It is possible only when
there is proper information flow along with process flow. Reliable and accurate
information gives you competitive advantage over the other. Thus enterprise
resource planning is very important for the company. There are already major
players in the ERP solutions like SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. But many small
companies are not able to use these expensive ERP solution and thereby they
use open source ERP which are easily available on internet. There are various
open source ERP available like Odoo, Xtuple, Apache OFBiz, ADempiere ERP
business suite, ERPNext, Dolibarr, Opentaps, ERP5, LedgerSMB, OpenBravo ERP.
These tools have different modules which are used by many functions from sales
to marketing, supply chain to operation, finance and Human resources etc.
There are many big company along with small companies are using these tools
like Danone, canonical, Singer etc. The modules includes sales management,
product development, supply chain management, accounting, purchase
management etc.

Company: Danone
Danone is one of the big food company in the world which have huge business
lines like fresh dairy products, Early life Nutrition, Waters and Medical Nutrition.
Danone has its presence in France, China, India and many other countries.
Currently company has the revenue of 21.14 billion euros. Company already had
SAP implementation in their operations but they also adopted OpenERP in
many of their modules. The reason being that the company tried SAP modules
but outcome is not as per their expectations. The overall result is failure of SAP
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Arun Kumar (PGP05.113)

IIM Rohtak
module in their system. But company already invested a lot in SAP
implementation which they thought would work for their needs in green field
entities. Then they decided to bring a low cost, easily manageable and flexible
solution i.e. Synchronized and integrated OpenERP and SAP platform. It allows
them to faster implementation. They called it as Smart ERP.

Odoo(Formerly Open ERP)

Oddo/Open ERP is broad suite of business applications regarding all functions in
company. It has big portfolio of products where company find various modules
like Sales, Manufacturing, Financial Management, Warehouse Management,
Project Management and Human Resource Management. It is extensively used by
small and mid-size companies and found as one of the most used open source
ERP in the world. It can be used in live production directly and rapidly because of
its modular structure and ease of use.
Odoo/Open ERP is not a single application, it is thousands. It is an ERP on cloud.
It has been appreciated by various companies because of its following
functionality.
Modular: Modularity is its best functionality because company can start
with few modules and then increase as per needs. It is also compatible
with many other applications and can work as integrated solution.
Updated Technology: There is no as such obsolete in case
Odoo/OpenERP as it is in continuous improvement technology and
updated tools are easily available which are compatible with the latest
technology.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): If we want more functionality
and technology then we have to compensate with total cost of ERP. A new
ERP cost are operating costs, administrative costs, inventory costs and
maintenance costs. But in the case Odoo/OpenERP your TCO is reduced. It
is available on demand. Its benefits are realised in the form of percentage
of completion, reduction in cycle time and total production output. Many
companies who see ERP as cost centre changed their mind after watching
potential of open source ERP like Odoo/OpenERP
Consolidation Strategy: Many companies have several ERP systems
which they find very difficult to consolidate. This pose many challenges
like lack of standardised processes and lack of consistency in data in the
different system. Odoo/OpenERP helps in unify the business processes in
company
Customizable: In a highly competitive and rapid changing world,
companies have to innovate and improve to maintain their pace with the
changing business requirements. Thus software and tools have to be
flexible and customizable. This is possible with the right tools.
No lock-in: It should be easily downloadable, free of cost, ease to test
and use.

Arun Kumar (PGP05.113)

IIM Rohtak

Arun Kumar (PGP05.113)

IIM Rohtak

Relationship with class discussion.

In class we have discussed various case like KEDASAP implementation,
information system strategy at Neelkanth Drugs, Vinsun Infra
Engineering: ERP on Premise or on Cloud. We have seen the issues
regarding an ERP on premise and advantages of ERP on cloud. ERP on premise is
very expensive and there are chances of obsceneness of products with the
changing technological environment. We have discussed that deciding the type
of ERP to be used is a strategic decision which involve entire leadership as well
as employees opinion.
These are few points which we found important in context with ERP on premise
and ERP on cloud.
Hardware cost
Infrastructure cost
(separate space etc.)
Maintenance cost
IT staff cost
Licence cost
Repair cost
Consultant cost
Customizable
Security
Scalability
Accessibility &
Usability
Operating costs

ERP on premise
High
High

ERP on cloud
Low(only systems and
internet cost)
Not required

High
High
High
High
High
Low
High
Low
difficult

Low
Not Required
Low
Not Required
Low
High
Low
High
Easy

High

Low
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Arun Kumar (PGP05.113)

IIM Rohtak
Implementation
Integration
Disaster Recovery
Flexibility

Slow
difficult
Low
Low

Rapid
Easy
High
High

References:
http://opensource.com/resources/top-4-open-source-erp-systems
http://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/erp/10-open-source-erp-options.html
http://erpuae.blogspot.in/2012/03/danone-goes-openerp-over-sap.html
https://www.facebook.com/notes/odoo/danone-surprises-the-market-deployingan-open-source-erp-openerp/10150286860328963
http://www.sodexis.com/services/what-is-odoo-longwood-orlando-florida.html